Are you a lover of all things Joss Whedon? Do you sleep with a stake under your pillow? Do you have a flair for the artistic? If so, you’re just what the Whedon Universe event track at Dragon*Con is looking for. They’ve announced a fan art contest that will be judged by votes at the convention, and you’ll have a chance of winning some surely spiffy but as-of-yet unspecified prizes.
The full details are over at the WU website: WhedonUniverse
The latest issue in the comic book season 8 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer released this week, and it’s the final issue in Drew Goddard’s Wolves at the Gate arc, a story that delivers a number of gut punches and classic moments for a series that truly has transcended its television and movie origins. Spoilers and a review after the jump.
Next Wednesday, June 4, is my thirtieth birthday, and it’s also a big release day for comics. Here’s a look ahead and a few of the issues you can expect to see hitting stands:
Secret Invasion #3 (Marvel)
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Penciled by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
Cover by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO
Variant Cover by STEVE MCNIVEN
Sketch Variant Cover by STEVE MCNIVEN
THE BLOCKBUSTER EVENT continues. It’s Avenger versus Avenger. Hero versus hero! Norman Osborn versus Captain Marvel?? The Initiative versus an army of Super-Skrulls? Is Tony Stark really a–? And who’s that guy with an eye patch coming to save the day?? And, oh man, who did he bring with him?
Trinity #1 (DC)
Written by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza
Art by Mark Bagley & Art Thibert, Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens, Tom Derenick & Wayne Faucher and Mike Norton & Jerry Ordway
Covers by Carlos Pacheco
DC’s new weekly series TRINITY explodes in an extra-sized debut issue featuring art by fan-favorite Mark Bagley (Ultimate Spider-Man) & Art Thibert with lead stories and dialogue by Kurt Busiek (SUPERMAN, ASTRO CITY)!The lead feature explores the unusual bond - and importance - of DC’s top three characters, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, as a mysterious dream links them together and may prophesy important changes in their trinity!
Plus, a co-feature in issue #1 explores the mysterious connection between several villains who are watching the Trinity -as well as the near future for these characters and their surrounding world! Co-features in issues #2-4 fill in back-story on some of the other important players in this major storyline. These stories are written by Busiek & Fabian Nicieza with art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens (NIGHTWING, GREEN ARROW), Tom Derenick & Wayne Faucher and Mike Norton & Jerry Ordway (ALL-NEW ATOM, INFINITE CRISIS).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #15 (Dark Horse)
Drew Goddard (W), Georges Jeanty (P/Cover), Andy Owens (I), Michelle Madsen (C), and Jon Foster (Cover)
Having traveled from her base in Scotland, Buffy ventures to the heart of Japan in order to reclaim her stolen scythe, in Drew Goddard’s conclusion to Wolves at the Gate. Along the way, Buffy and the legion of Slayers join forces with the irresistible Dracula to defeat a tight-nit group of nefarious vampires, in which the Slayers suffer a massive hit.
The celebrated Buffy Season Eight continues with Joss Whedon as executive producer, with Georges Jeanty (The American Way) as series artist, and Jon Foster on covers.
Written by acclaimed television scribe Drew Goddard!
The next time you feel bad about your job and start surfing the web for a better salary, keep in mind that it always could be worse. Take, for example, these ten disastrous workplaces from TV.
DigitalSpy has a new interview with Anthony Stewart Head, in which they ask him about the status of the much rumored and long delayed spinoff from Buffy the Vampire Slayer that would focus on his character, Giles. Previously he’s mentioned that the spinoff would be produced by the BBC and would be called Ripper. Beyond that, details have been sketchy. It doesn’t sound like things have gotten a lot closer to actually happening, but it’s always good to hear that the project is still in the realm of maybe-possibly. Here’s what ASH had to say about Ripper:
“The latest is that I was over in LA last year at about this time. I bumped into Julie Gardner from BBC Wales who said ‘has anything ever happened to that?’ And at the same time I had just been speaking to Joss [Whedon] saying that there are a lot of people who keep asking about it. He said ‘Is there anybody at the BBC I can talk to about it?’ so I introduced him to Julie Gardner and they got on very well… and then the writers’ strike happened and Fox picked up an idea of his called Dollhouse that he’s doing with Eliza Dushku. So the answer is that there is a possibility of something happening… the story that he’s written could adapt to being a one-off story not necessarily related to Buffy. All that means that there is the will and there is the means. It’s a question of how, when and if it [comes together] through the next year or so… All I can say is that it’s a ghost story. But a ghost story with a real Joss Whedon difference. It’s got such a twist to it. But I wouldn’t want to give it away. It would be the worst spoiler of all time.”
This thing will get made, if the BBC knows what’s good for ‘em.
Source: Digital Spy
Typically when you watch the pilot episode of a TV series, you can guess what the rest of the series will bring you, at least in tone if not in plot. Occasionally, though, a great TV show will throw a twist into the middle of its run that completely changes the game. All your prior notions of where the show was going are wiped away, the status quo is changed fundamentally, and what you’re left with is a familiar series that suddenly has become unfamiliar as it leaps into the unknown. Here’s a look at seven TV shows that made just such a leap. Beware of spoilers for the listed series. And no, Fonzie jumping the shark doesn’t count.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #12 made news media headlines due to the Satsu development in the story. Following just a few weeks later, does #13 hit any more hot button issues? Well, no, but it definitely delivers the funniest issue of the series yet.
MySpace Comic Books has a three page preview of Buffy the Vampire Slayer #16 online. This is the first issue featuring art by Karl Moline and looks to be the beginning of a new story arc. Check out the preview, but be warned that there’s a little bit of hype-type spoilage for the issue.
Georges Jeanty has been the regular series artist for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 comic book from issue #1, but an old face from the Buffy comicverse will return to art duties, beginning with issue #16. Karl Moline drew the 2003 series Fray, a story written by Joss Whedon and introducing Melaka Fray, a future slayer who wielded the Slayer’s Scythe in comics long before it ever appeared in the Buffy TV series. Moline was sketchy about the details of his upcoming work on the current Buffy series but did let a couple of tidbits slip in an interview he did at Comic Book Resources. Check out the overall interview there, but be warned that some minor spoilers do get hinted at:
